High Diversity of RNA Viruses in Rodents, Ethiopia

Yonas Meheretu,Jonas Schmidt-Chanasit,Anna Bryjová,Josef Bryja,Kokob Girmay,Zewdneh Tomas,Joëlle Goüy De Bellocq,Kiros Welegerima,Jana Těšíková,Dawit Kidane,Dagmar Čížková,Herwig Leirs,Stephan Günther

doi:10.3201/eid1812.120596

Abstract

We investigated synanthropic small mammals in the Ethiopian Highlands as potential reservoirs for human pathogens and found that 2 rodent species, the Ethiopian white-footed mouse and Awash multimammate mouse, are carriers of novel Mobala virus strains. The white-footed mouse also carries a novel hantavirus, the second Murinae-associated hantavirus found in Africa.

Highlights

Yonas Meheretu,1 Dagmar Čížková,1 Jana Těšíková, Kiros Welegerima, Zewdneh Tomas, Dawit Kidane, Kokob Girmay, Jonas Schmidt-Chanasit, Josef Bryja, Stephan Günther, Anna Bryjová, Herwig Leirs, and Joëlle Goüy de Bellocq
We investigated synanthropic small mammals in the Ethiopian Highlands as potential reservoirs for human pathogens and found that 2 rodent species, the Ethiopian white-footed mouse and Awash multimammate mouse, are carriers of novel Mobala virus strains
All 4 sequences were found in S. albipes mice, a Murinae species endemic to Ethiopia, they do not group with the Murinae-associated hantaviruses or with hantaviruses found in other African small mammals, such as bats [2,3] or shrews [12,13]

Summary

Introduction

Yonas Meheretu,1 Dagmar Čížková,1 Jana Těšíková, Kiros Welegerima, Zewdneh Tomas, Dawit Kidane, Kokob Girmay, Jonas Schmidt-Chanasit, Josef Bryja, Stephan Günther, Anna Bryjová, Herwig Leirs, and Joëlle Goüy de Bellocq. We investigated synanthropic small mammals in the Ethiopian Highlands as potential reservoirs for human pathogens and found that 2 rodent species, the Ethiopian white-footed mouse and Awash multimammate mouse, are carriers of novel Mobala virus strains. The synanthropic nature of some rodent species makes them important reservoirs of RNA viruses pathogenic to humans, such as hantaviruses (e.g., Seoul virus in black and Norway rats worldwide) and arenaviruses (e.g., Lassa virus in the multimammate mouse in western Africa or lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus in the house mouse worldwide).

Results

Conclusion